“it has too large a surface, there’s not enough grout lines around the tiles that help with the friction when the sole of a foot goes onto the floor,” explains Recreation Services Manager Chuck Loewen.

The city has been spending almost $80,000 yearly to acid etch the tiles to make them less slippery.

Instead of continuing with that expensive program, the city will spend $150,000 to replace the tiles with smaller ones.

“A two by two inch tile, with all the grout lines around it, to provide more slip free footing,” says Loewen.

Penticton’s mayor was on the council committee overseeing the pool expansion project when the tiles were installed.

“The tiles were purchased on the best advice of the people building the pool,” says Garry Litke.

“In this instance, we trusted the suppliers to provide a tile that would be safe around the pool, that’s what we were told.”

Despite the bad advice, Litke says there’s no recourse for the city to pursue cost recovery from the project contractors.